Guru
Gobind Singh had hoped that
Emperor Bahadur Shah would fulfil his
promise and do justice in the
Punjab by punishing the Governor of
Sirhind,
Nawab Wazir Khan and his accomplices for
their crimes against the common people including the deaths of the Guru's
mother, Mata Gujri and his two younger sons,
Sahibzada Zorawar Singh and
Sahibzada Fateh Singh. Finding him
reluctant, the Guru deputed Madho Das Bairagi, under the leadership of five
Sikhs, to end Mughal persecution of innocents in
Punjab. In
a few days, the Guru held a
darbar and on
3 September1708, baptised Madho Das with
Khanda di pahal and conferred the title of
Banda Singh Bahadur on him. He appointed him as his military lieutenant and
invested him with full political and military authority as his deputy to
lead the campaign in the
Punjab against the evil
Mughal administration and to punish
Nawab Wazir Khan and his supporters. Banda
was supplied with five gold tipped arrow and a
nagara (drum) as symbols of temporal
authority. He was given an advisory council of five devoted Sikhs (Hazuri
Singhs), who on their arrival in the
Punjab were to assure the
Sikhs that Banda was the Guru's nominee and
deputy and to organize them in order to lead an expedition against
Sirhind. The five Singhs were:

Twenty
five soldiers were to act as Banda's bodyguards. A
Hukumnamah (order) in the handwriting of
the Guru instructing Sikhs to join Banda Bahadur in his struggle against
Mughal rule was provided. As an insignia of
his temporal authority invested in him, the Guru gave Banda Bahadur his own
sword, green bow, five arrows from his quiver and a
Nishan Sahib. Three hundred Sikh cavaliers
in battle array accompanied Banda up to a distance of eight kilometres to
give him a final send off.

En route to the Punjab

At
the rate of ten to sixteen kilometres per day, it should have taken Banda
more than a hundred days to complete his journey, but he actually took about
a year. Probably, he might have been frequently in hiding. The emperor must
have instructed his officers to kill Banda and his band. That is why Banda
travelled right across
Maharashtra and
Rajasthan, both of which were then in
revolt against the Mughals.

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